Nuon Kan was aCambodian writer, composer, and professor of music and performing arts, who escaped theCambodian genocide, which annihilated most of the musicians and scholars of his generation. He is the author of a popular patriotic hymn entitled theHistory of Khmer People.
Nuon Kan was born on June 18, 1937, in Sangkat 4, Phnom Penh.
He joined the Cambodian Writers' Association in 1958.
With a scholarship from theAsia Foundation, he went to study performing arts and directing in France, where he studied under the guidance ofPierre Valde from 1961 to 1965. In 1965, he was invited to join the East-West Seminar organized by theInternational Theatre Institute at theUNESCO.[1] In 1967 he graduated in performing arts from theSorbonne.
In 1968, he joined the recently founded International University Center for Dramatic Training and Research (Centre universitaire international de formation et de recherche dramatique) under the direction ofJack Lang inNancy, where he received his master's degree, before returning toPhnom Penh.
In the 1970s, during theKhmer Civil War, he was a professor on contract with theRoyal University of Fine Arts, and he was appointed acting director of the National Theatrical Conservatory.[2]
From 1975 to 1976 he received a scholarship from theJapan Foundation to studyNoh Theater and theCambodian Royal Ballet. After Cambodia had fallen under the control of theKhmers Rouges, Nuon sought asylum with his family in the United States of America where he remained until 1991, when he came back to Japan with his Japanese wife, Raiku Karamora.
In 1981, he benefited from a major sponsorship from theNational Endowment for the Arts "to enable [him] and classical ballet dancer Chandara Chhim to present Cambodian folk art and dance to the local Cambodian – American community".[3] In 1982, he directed his first production, an adaptation ofKhaa Key, a play written byKing Sihanouk's family.[4]
In 1992, he received a grant fromUnited Nations Development Programme to return to Cambodia and teach performing arts at the Royal University of Fine Arts once more.
From 1993 to 1996, he was hired as a teacher at theTokyo University of Foreign Studies, after which he retired toLong Beach, California, where he was active in the Khmer overseas community, writing plays to challenge the violent history of Cambodia, such as his dramaThe Dead accuse.[5]
He died in Long Beach on March 31, 2002, at the age of 68.[6]
Nuon has had a lasting influence on themusic of Cambodia. Words from his songHistory of Khmer People, written in 1958, are still being sung by the most famous performers inCambodia, such as pop singersPreap Sovath andAok Sokunkanha, as a testament to their power and the importance of national pride to the development of Cambodia.[7]
Nuon wrote extensively about performing arts, both in practise and in theory, composing the first book aboutmusic theory in Khmer in 1959. His most famous works are:
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